


hard sometimes

by starfishing (lovemarket)



Series: No darkness [...] can last forever [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Good Parent Janet Drake, Hurt/Comfort, Janet Drake Lives, Janet is a good mom! I'll die on this hill, Scars, Tim Drake is Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27910498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovemarket/pseuds/starfishing
Summary: Apparently, vigilantes don't go to hospitals.
Relationships: Janet Drake & Tim Drake
Series: No darkness [...] can last forever [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038926
Comments: 3
Kudos: 71





	hard sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> i know tim mainly went to public school but the uniform is just for convenience .. it’s actually not That important to the plot, just what gets it moving. i also HC that if janet lived instead of jack, she would be wise with their money and not lose it all (side eyes jack) and would do her best keeping DI afloat and would actually probably succeed at doing so.

“Where, where, where…” Tim mutters, opening and closing his drawers, rummaging through his closet. Of course, he can’t find his uniform shirt! He hadn’t laid out the outfit last night, way too tired from patrol to even think about  _ school _ of all things. He’d face planted into his bed after returning from Wayne Manor and slept like a log until his alarm woke him up before his mother did. And he’s lucky as hell she didn’t wake him up because that was a lot worse than the alarm clock.

Tim shoves aside jackets and sweatshirts in his closet to no avail. He can’t find the damn button up shirt with his school’s crest on the little chest pocket. He pulls at his hair a bit, suppressing a groan. He’s got fifteen minutes until he needs to be at the bus stop, which only gives him ten minutes to eat breakfast but he might have to skip that if he doesn’t find the shirt in time.

He sprints down the stairs, practically sliding into the kitchen, stopping in front of his mom sitting at the table with a mug of coffee and her laptop open to her DI projects. “Mom! Have you seen my uniform shirt?” He huffs out, standing in front of her with the look of a lost puppy.

Janet pushes the reading glasses up her nose, then turns to her son. She’s about to answer but what she sees makes her freeze. Now, Janet knew what happened during Tim’s time as Robin and that it would continue to happen since letting him don the uniform again. But she didn’t think she’d ever be ready to actually  _ see _ it.

Her son’s body… She could remember when he has a baby, free of painful marks; smooth stomach, back and arms. Now… Now he looked… Janet could barely even believe what she was seeing. His collarbone, the top of his shoulders, arms and torso full of scars and marks, some faded with age and others a bit newer. There were new bandages as well, courtesy of Alfred, most likely.

Janet brings a hand to her mouth and Tim is confused for a second until he follows her gaze, looking down at his own body. “Oh,” he mutters. “Wait, Mom, it’s really not all that--” he trails off, realizing that she’s not really listening.

Janet knows Batman and Robin have fierce battles, ones where they barely make it out alive. She has half the mind to march straight over to Wayne Manor again and demand Bruce do something, but it’s out of his hands, and hers as well. All this time, her baby has been put through undeserving amounts of pain time and again and he silently bears it all, for the sake of saving another person’s life. Someone he doesn’t even know. Her  _ fifteen year old son _ takes a shot to the chest, narrowly avoiding major arteries so someone can live another day. Gets cut up by knives and all sorts of weapons to prevent some madman from robbing an innocent civilian on Gotham’s nasty streets. These random people get to make it out of unfortunate situations unscathed while her son,  _ her  _ Tim, bears all the pain they would have gone through if not for Batman and Robin.

And that scares her.

“Tim,” she whispers, standing from her chair. “Are you okay?”

Tim cocks his head to the side in confusion. “Some of these are-are from months ago, maybe even like last year. I got a little roughed up last night and there was that one guy who punched me in the gut pretty hard a few days ago--” Janet makes a strangled noise at that. “But… I’ll be okay.” He finishes.

Janet pulls him into a hug and Tim reacts late to the embrace, hesitantly returning the hug. She holds him tighter, closer to her and he melts. “You know I worry for you?” She mutters into his hair. “Every night. I told Wayne that you need to be back by three a.m. on school nights, you know that?”

“So  _ that’s _ why he makes me go back to the Batmobile at two-thirty everyday.” He says, mostly to himself but his mother laughs at it. They pull away but her arms are still wrapped around him. “Have either of you gone to the hospital for any of these injuries?”

Tim grimaces. “Um… vigilantes don’t… I can’t exactly show up to Gotham General in the Robin suit and tell them to put it on my insurance.” He shrugs.

Janet shakes her head with amusement. Apparently, vigilantes don’t go to hospitals.

“How much medical training does Mr. Pennyworth have? Did he go to school for it? Is he--” “Bruce is good friends with a very trustworthy doctor,” Tim interrupts her. “Alfred does what he can and if it’s any worse, we go to her. It’s okay, Mom.” Tim promises.

Janet stares at him, gaze running over his face. When did he get so big? She always asks herself. She breathes in and out a couple of times.

“Okay… okay.” She nods once and sits back down. “Your uniform shirt is in the dryer. I’ll drive you to school today.” Before turning to go to the laundry room, Tim raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I don’t want to make you late to your meetings or--”

“I  _ want _ to drive you to school, Tim. Go get dressed.” She closes her laptop and makes a gesture telling him to get a move on.

Tim smiles, “Can we stop for breakfast on the way?” “You want some processed, unhealthy food don’t you?” She muses, packing her things. Tim shrugs, shamelessly. “What’s wrong with a cheat day? I’m sure Alfred will understand.”

“You’re going to be the one explaining that to  _ him _ , later on. Now, go get dressed or we’ll both be late!”

Janet watches as Tim jogs down the hall. This is never going to get any easier.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> as time goes on, i'll probably end up thinking of a bunch of scenes that COULD'VE been in the main fic but fit better as little asides and add them to the series, so i hope u enjoy them!


End file.
